How Clouds Hold IT Together: Integrating Architecture with Cloud Deployment

CHAPTER  3

The Bridge

Service Management

SUMMARY

Service management as a discipline grew out of efforts to improve manufacturing quality and efficiency in the mid-twentieth century. These efforts lead to recognition of IT as a collection of services that could be planned, implemented, studied, and adjusted in the manner of a production line in a factory. ITIL is a set of practices for following this pattern. Service strategy is the first phase in the ITIL service management plan, in which enterprise goals and requirements shape a high-level plan for IT services.

The shadow cast by the service-management umbrella is broad, extending into the organization of the enterprise as well as IT. Service management practices can also guide the design ...